Tuesday, June 22

Get Excited Over Savory Zucchini Bread with Cilantro, Scallions, and Cheddar

It's too early to get excited over zucchini. I know. There is a reason it's called "summer squash."

But when you stop at a road-side farm stand where they're selling big, no, make that colossal zucchini 4/ $1 you buy them. Then you try desperately to figure out how two people will eat all that zucchini, all 12 pounds of it.

Turns out, it's not that hard. So far, I have made breaded, baked zucchini, sauteed zucchini and onions, and sauteed zucchini and fennel. I have added zucchini to our nightly salad, tossed it in a veggie soup, and ate some raw with hummus. Of course, I made zucchini bread. How could I not?

Though I adore my Mom's Zucchini Bread with Pineapple and Coconut, I wanted to try a savory zucchini bread instead. Since I had a hankering for Mexican food the morning I made this, I adapted Mom's recipe by omitting the pineapple, coconut, and vanilla, and adding black pepper, cheddar cheese, cilantro, and pepitas. This savory zucchini bread is muy deliciosis.

Here are a few tips on how to eat this savory zucchini bread:

1. Always cut it into thick slabs. Who likes skinny slices of zucchini bread?
2. Eat a slice when it's hot-out-of-the-oven with a generous pat of creamy butter.
3. Toast leftover zucchini bread on a griddle, and use it to make a sandwich.

I think I'll take a drive back to that road-side farm stand on Sunday. I'm all out of zucchini, and I feel a craving for savory zucchini bread coming on.

3. In a medium bowl beat eggs and sugar with an electric mixer. Add oil and beat until combined. Add the wet ingredients to the dry, and stir by hand. Fold in zucchini, scallions, cheese, and cilantro.

4. Divide batter evenly between two pans. Sprinkle the top of each loaf with 1 tablespoon pepitas. Bake for 50-60 minutes, or until a cake tester inserted in the middle comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes. Remove from pans and place on a wire rack.

Note about scallions: If you prefer, you can saute the scallions first by warming 1 teaspoon canola oil in a small skillet over medium heat. Saute 3 minutes, or until lightly browned and wilted.

Last year I was overwhelmed with the number of zucchini that my garden produced - I had literally eaten zucchini 6 ways to Sunday and still was faced with a counter full of it. My solution. Zucchini relish. It used up about 12 zucchini for the batch which I canned (about 11 half pints) and gave as hostess gifts, etc. I'm down to one jar left in the basement and I cannot wait to make more. It was so good that people have started to ask when I will be making more because they want to put an order in. Let me know if you want the recipe.

This Zucchini bread is delicious. Pulled it out of the oven an hour ago, very yummy. My grandmother makes the most incredible sweet zucchini bread but this Savory is delicious. I'm definitely going to have to blog about it as well.

I'm curious, why so much sugar in this recipe? I made this last night and I think it has great potential, but the sweetness overpowers all the good stuff. You can't really taste the cilantro or scallion with all that sugar. Any idea from a kitchen chemistry view what would happen if I say used 1/2 cup sugar?

nicole-I think it's a matter of taste. I have made it a few times now and don't find it sweet. I also taste the scallions and cilantro a lot. I would suggest you try it with less sugar to suit your taste. I'm not sure what will happed from the chemistry pov. I hope you find a combination you enjoy!